Many of us don't have time to read because of our filled schedules from M to S, but when you get the chance, you should pick up a book and read the first few pages. You'll never know how long it will be until you put the book down again! Take, say, 5-10 minutes snooping around the shelves at the library--especially the New Arrivals pile! Talk to others about their "reading" life. Perhaps hearing your video game-addict friend, who you think plays Runescape 24/7, reading two or three books at once may motivate you!
Here are some books that we thought would interest you if you liked the books from the Punahou English 2 Course:
Fox Girl by Nora Okja Keller
If you liked the adventures in Woman Warrior by Maxine Hong Kingston, perhaps Fox Girl is the book for you. Left after the Korean War, two teenage girls go on each day of their lives through pain, friendship, and love as they are thrown between American soldiers and the ups and downs growing up. The brutal post-war society twists relationships, slowly unraveling its emotional turns on the route of survival. Looking at the history between Korea and the United States, Keller gives the reader an amazing perspective, integrating cultures, races, and reality.
Here is a little something to get you started: (an excerpt from the book)
When we were children, everyone in Chollak thought Sookie was ugly; this is what I love most about her. Her ugliness--bulbous eyed and dark skinned--was greater than mine and shielded me to some degree. "Gundong-hi, ssang-dong-i," the neighborhood boys teased as we walked the path from school. "The Butt Twins," they called us. Sookie covered her ears--bony elbows sticking out like a kite--and I tucked the stained side of my face into my shoulder. Reasoning that they couldn't call me ugly if they didn't see the birthmark, I turned my good side toward the taunting and let the teasing fall on my friend.
"Blackie, black dog," they shouted at her. Sookie, hands still over her ears, would recite the alphabet.
"Your father must be a U.S. darkie!" the boys spat at us. Even Lobetto, whose father was a black GI and whose skin was darker than Sookie's, teased her since at least he had a father.
Speak by Laurie Halse Anderson
Reading The Poisonwood Bible stretches your mind to accommodates the different point-of-views that the characters provide. In class, we have observed and discussed a lot about their personalities, their growth, and their voices. In Speak, a high schooler talks about her life, describing the some of her horrifying, embarrassing, or fulfilling memories.
Here is a little something to get you started: (an excerpt from the book)
Melinda speaks:
The ninth graders are herded into the auditorium. We fall into clans: Jocks, Country Clubbers, Idiot Savants, Cheerleaders, Human Waste, Eurotrash, Future Fascists of America, Big Hair Chix, the Marthas, Suffering Artists, Goths, Shredders. I am clanless. I wasted the last weeks of August watching bad cartoons. I didn't go to the mall, the lake, or the pool, or answer the phone. I have entered the high school with the wrong hair, the wrong clothes, the wrong attitude. And I don't have anyone to sit with.
More to come...
Illusions: The Adventures of a Reluctant Messiah by Richard Bach
If you just want to read a book but don't want to go to the library or to the bookstore, there are two free websites where you can (legally) get free eBooks. One is Project Gutenberg, which has mostly books in the public domain. The other is Wowio, which has books that are supported through ads placed inside the books. In order to sign onto Wowio you will need to verify your existance. You can do this in a number of ways, but the easiest would be to sign up using your ePunahou email address (note: Dee has not gotten any spam on his ePunahou account after having it for several weeks).
Here are some books that we thought would interest you if you liked the books from the Punahou English 2 Course:
Fox Girl by Nora Okja Keller
Here is a little something to get you started: (an excerpt from the book)
When we were children, everyone in Chollak thought Sookie was ugly; this is what I love most about her. Her ugliness--bulbous eyed and dark skinned--was greater than mine and shielded me to some degree. "Gundong-hi, ssang-dong-i," the neighborhood boys teased as we walked the path from school. "The Butt Twins," they called us. Sookie covered her ears--bony elbows sticking out like a kite--and I tucked the stained side of my face into my shoulder. Reasoning that they couldn't call me ugly if they didn't see the birthmark, I turned my good side toward the taunting and let the teasing fall on my friend.
"Blackie, black dog," they shouted at her. Sookie, hands still over her ears, would recite the alphabet.
"Your father must be a U.S. darkie!" the boys spat at us. Even Lobetto, whose father was a black GI and whose skin was darker than Sookie's, teased her since at least he had a father.
Speak by Laurie Halse Anderson
Here is a little something to get you started: (an excerpt from the book)
Melinda speaks:
The ninth graders are herded into the auditorium. We fall into clans: Jocks, Country Clubbers, Idiot Savants, Cheerleaders, Human Waste, Eurotrash, Future Fascists of America, Big Hair Chix, the Marthas, Suffering Artists, Goths, Shredders. I am clanless. I wasted the last weeks of August watching bad cartoons. I didn't go to the mall, the lake, or the pool, or answer the phone. I have entered the high school with the wrong hair, the wrong clothes, the wrong attitude. And I don't have anyone to sit with.
More to come...
Illusions: The Adventures of a Reluctant Messiah by Richard Bach
If you just want to read a book but don't want to go to the library or to the bookstore, there are two free websites where you can (legally) get free eBooks. One is Project Gutenberg, which has mostly books in the public domain. The other is Wowio, which has books that are supported through ads placed inside the books. In order to sign onto Wowio you will need to verify your existance. You can do this in a number of ways, but the easiest would be to sign up using your ePunahou email address (note: Dee has not gotten any spam on his ePunahou account after having it for several weeks).
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